Fishing and writing about it is a tough job, but somebody has to do it! Sometimes it is tougher than others. My Georgia Outdoor News assignment for the April Map of the Month article is Clarks Hill and my Alabama Outdoor News article is Wheeler Lake, two lakes about as far apart as you can get in those two states.
Unfortunately, the fisherman I featured in GON said the only day he could go was last Sunday and the fisherman in Alabama could go only on Monday. So I left home Saturday afternoon about 2:00 PM, drove to my place at Raysville boat club and got up Sunday morning and did that article.
I went back by my trailer, changed clothes and drove to Wheeler, about six hours away. I got a motel room, spent the night, got up Monday morning and did that article. Then I went back by the motel, changed clothes and drove home.
In 49 hours I drove 979 miles, fished two lakes and slept and ate in two states. That was just about two much. And the trip started so badly I thought the whole thing would be a disaster.
As I pulled into the drive of the boat club, three hours from home, I remembered the new electronic gate put up since the last time I was there. I also remembered I didn’t have a “clicker” to get in! Luckily another member was going in and I was able to get through the gate.
I called the club Commodore and he agreed to meet me in town when I went to get dinner, and bring me a clicker. Then I started looking for my trailer key. I always leave it in the glove compartment of the van, the only vehicle I drive to the club. It was not there or anywhere else in the van that I searched.
No problem, I leave a hidden key for just such problems. But it was not there, either. I either moved it or it got lost somehow. So I broke a window to get in, unloaded and went to town to eat and get my clicker.
The rest of the trip was better. I enjoyed fishing with Baylor Ronemus, a Clemson College Bass Team member. We just didn’t talk about football. At the Classic the Clemson team had a booth and I talked with the president of the club. He gave me Baylor’s phone number and said he had grown up in Augusta and fished Clarks Hill all his life.
The rainy cold morning was not real comfortable fishing but Baylor showed me some good spots to fish in April, and we caught three keeper bass and a hybrid. I was back at the trailer by 2:00 PM and left for Wheeler soon after that. Six hours later I got a motel room in Rogersville and got a good nights sleep.
The net morning I met Robb Young, a North Alabama College team member, before daylight. He grew up in Rogersville right on the lake and has fished it all his life. We ran around in the misty, cold drizzle for about three hours checking the spots that will be good in April and fishing some. But nothing bit.
I was able to get home from Wheeler by 3:00 PM, 49 hours after I left.